John and I were watching a show on the Discovery channel the other night about Kim Peek, the savant on whom Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man was based. Peek can read and memorize two pages of a book at a time, in a matter of seconds (his left eye reads the left page while his right eye reads the right page). To prove Peek's incredible memory, the interviewer was asking him a number of questions about the Civil War, all of which Peek answered immediately and flawlessly. At one point, though, the interviewer asked him what Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was. Peek answered, without hesitation, "227 North West Front Street. But he only stayed there one night since he gave the talk the next day." His laughter afterwards indicated how proud he was of that joke. I, in turn, laughed for several minutes afterwards, while John shook his head at me.

Halloween is tomorrow and I have to admit that I'm very much not looking forward to it. Last year, if you'll recall, our humble household was able to endure the onslaught with relative ease because Luke kept the little buggers in line. (And note that I have no issue with small children who trick-or-treat. It's the nineteen-year-olds who come around with grocery carts-- GROCERY CARTS-- demanding candy that piss me off.) This year, I just don't know if I'm up to it. Truth be told, we haven't even bought pumpkins to carve, though we reluctantly bought candy (unopened and returnable). I'm honestly thinking about calling up some friends and asking if we can hang out at their place for the evening. We'll provide candy!